YORK, Maine — Three state representatives from southern Maine are sponsoring legislation to stop Central Maine Power from charging fees to customers who choose to opt-out of smart meter installation.

State Reps. Roberta “Bobbi” Beavers, D-South Berwick, Paul McGowan, D-York, and Deane Rykerson, D-Kittery, are sponsors of the bill, LD 826 introduced Tuesday, according to a statement from the Maine Legislature House Democratic Office.

Beavers developed the bill in response to complaints from constituents about CMP’s smart meter installation throughout southern York County during the summer of 2011, she said Thursday.

Customers who opted out paid $40 up front, and pay $12 a month to keep their analog meters. While the provision is not in the bill,

Beavers said she would like to see customers reimbursed for their opt-out fees, and intends to make an amendment to that effect.

“I so resent this,” said Beavers, who chose to keep her analog meter. “So many people would have opted out except for the charge.”

LD 826, “an Act to Eliminate the Opt-out Charges for Smart Meters,” is in the Energy, Utilities and Technology Committee, on which Beavers and Rykerson serve. Rykerson has a smart meter, he said, but he doesn’t believe those who chose to keep their analog meter should have to pay.

“I think it’s an incumbrance,” he said Thursday. “There shouldn’t be a fee for choosing something the utility has decided to do to you.”

In 2011 and early 2012, CMP replaced 620,000 analog meters with smart meters free of charge to customers. Half of the installation funds — $96 million — came from federal stimulus funds. CMP intended to replace all meters, but in May 2011, the Maine Public Utilities Commission ruled the company had to allow for an opt-out procedure, but also approved an opt-out fee for the customer.

An estimated 8,400 customers, about 1.3 percent, opted out, CMP spokesman John Carroll said Thursday. Customers may opt out at any time, or to exchange their analog meter for a smart meter, he said.

How many more customers would choose the opt-out option should there be no fee is unknown, Carroll said. However, having no fee would likely raise rates for all CMP customers, he said.

“It would shift costs onto other ratepayers who are not responsible,” he said. “We don’t know where this would lead. Right now it is essentially paying for itself. If the opt-outs grows, it will add a larger and larger unknown expense.”

Beavers said she’s not buying the argument of additional cost. “They’re milking this,” she said. “Anybody who has opted out has already paid for this equipment through their taxes in stimulus funds and through rates paid. Essentially, they’re double-charging people, as far as I’m concerned.”

McGowan, in the released statement, said, “The cost of opting out is unfairly affecting the elderly, the poor and other vulnerable citizens who cannot afford this whether for reasons of privacy or for health concerns.”

Smart meter opponents claim the wireless devices are an invasion of privacy and a health concern as the high-frequency radio radiation they emit known as “dirty electricity,” is biologically damaging.

Carroll has said smart meters represent a health risk no greater than that of a cell phone.

Smart meters transmit electrical usage by radio frequency to a central location for monitoring and billing, negating the need for a meter reader. Customers may access their home’s hourly energy use online; those eligible for the Low Income Heating Assistance Program can get a discount on installation and monthly fees, according to CMP.

Customers paying $12 a month to keep analog meters are not getting their meters read monthly, Beavers said. Her bill proposes the meters be read as little as once a year.

“I’m willing to pay $12 once a year to have someone read the meters,” she said.

Carroll said the monthly charge includes the cost of keeping outdated technology in the form of parts, meters and training, and also pays for separate administrative costs.

Having meters read yearly would create problems in estimating bills, he said.

“The PUC standard allows us to read every other month,” Carroll said. “We think the commission was trying to be fair in its decision. If people want a choice, all other ratepayers involved are not paying for non-standard technology.”

Beavers attempted to get similar legislation heard last year, but in November 2011, the Legislative Council, which decides what bills will be heard by the Legislature in January, voted against allowing the measure to move forward.